Fashion, according to Bill Cunningham

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Think fashion is for the vacuous? A film about the legendary snapper will change that, says Laura Craik

Years ago, I was walking briskly towards a New York fashion show when an old
man with a gentle smile ran after me to take my photograph. Embarrassed, I
kept walking. He kept snapping. I kept walking. In those days, “street
photography” was yet to mushroom into the multimillion-dollar industry that
it is now; the only people who hung around outside the shows were fashion
students, Japanese photographers and Bill.

“Bill” is Bill Cunningham, and he is a legend. Although “legend” isn’t a
pristine or shiny or special enough word for him; nor is “gentleman”, nor
“genius”. Words pall in